It’s hard to know what the answer is. Population and player base is a huge factor in this and it’s hard to see how that can be addressed for a start. There is a massive gulf between county and club and this is getting wider.

Players have some chance of winning something with their club but on the intercounty scene for most (incl Meath, Laois etc at this stage) the long term prospects are a drubbing and a lot of ridicule for all the effort and social sacrifices you make. Unsustainable.

The very existence of the Super 8 next year shows to me that if the top brass want change, then they can have the necessary conversations that will ensure the votes. The Super 8 is of course designed to make money, but I feel will further remove us from a level playing field. The fact that it was voted through absolutely beggars belief.

Nothing like a few hammering to reinforce the calls for unfairness etc. We should petition Mrs May for an apology. Sure it was those crowd over the water that invented the county system in Ireland.

I think most of us in Armagh can take our beating and hope that the painful lessons are learned. We have many actions that we can take to try and get our own house in order and make the climb back towards the top and the hope is we will start doing that.

I would have thought though that any self respecting GAA fan would recognize that the disparity in playing standards across the country is a major cause for concern. I would anticipate that the advent of the Super 8s will not only do nothing to address that issue, but will accentuate the disparity. It is primarily designed to make money.

Your Mrs May jibe is well made too. I’m sure she’ll have Boris Johnson on the case as Foreign Secretary to raise the case of the Rossies with your Minister for Foreign Affairs.

I was wondering about that myself Mayoman. If you’d scraped past Roscommon in the first game and then ambushed Kerry with that performance they wouldn’t have known what’s hit them. They’re well clued in now though.

There has always been huge beatings in Gaelic Games. The nature and range of score taking opportunities are the root cause of it and little or nothing will change that bar a departure of the rules to something not recognisable as Gaelic Games.

Also, little or nothing, nor an influx of money will aid the plight of low populated counties in net migration areas who have always and probably will always struggle with numbers. How do counties that have population sizes in the region of average urban towns compete. It’s just a futile argument in my view with its root cause in the area that makes the organisation so successful; the county system.

The incursion of science into Gaelic Games also was inevitable due to the levels of commitment and desire to win; an All Ireland would be biggest social honour to many counties; it has driven up preparation and skills to a new level and unfortunately there are winners and losers. The road is almost impossible for counties with little tradition of success but it’s also true the likes of Meath Cork Galway Kildare etc ought to be better.

Three solutions in my view.

Give an optionsl tear up the county system to create regional franchises.

Advocate for a sustainable retreat to a era of taking the game less seriously.

Tier the competitions to create as level as a playing field as the sport will allow.

There has always been huge beatings in Gaelic Games. The nature and range of score taking opportunities are the root cause of it and little or nothing will change that bar a departure of the rules to something not recognisable as Gaelic Games.

Also, little or nothing, nor an influx of money will aid the plight of low populated counties in net migration areas who have always and probably will always struggle with numbers. How do counties that have population sizes in the region of average urban towns compete. It’s just a futile argument in my view with its root cause in the area that makes the organisation so successful; the county system.

The incursion of science into Gaelic Games also was inevitable due to the levels of commitment and desire to win; an All Ireland would be biggest social honour to many counties; it has driven up preparation and skills to a new level and unfortunately there are winners and losers. The road is almost impossible for counties with little tradition of success but it’s also true the likes of Meath Cork Galway Kildare etc ought to be better.

Three solutions in my view.

Give an optionsl tear up the county system to create regional franchises.

Advocate for a sustainable retreat to a era of taking the game less seriously.

Tier the competitions to create as level as a playing field as the sport will allow.

I don’t understand. None of your solutions mention the Super 8s, and yet when I queried the Super 8s in this very context, you appeared to get very defensive?

Has anybody ever heard a county player say they’d rather not compete for Sam Maguire and compete in a B Championship instead?

No, Me neither.

It’s like when I hear people say, it’s a disgrace the fans of Mayo and Roscommon have to travel up to Croke Park on a bank holiday Monday. Never mind the fans, the players deserved the facilities and the experience of playing in Croke Park. They spend enough of the winter training and playing in shite conditions that days out in the luxury of Croke Park serve as a reward for that commitment.

Population while a factor is not the be all. Mayo is the 17th most populous county. Cork, Galway, Limerick, Meath, Kildare etc all have much larger populations than us. I think since 1989 Mayo have done quiet well on the national stage (All Ireland final meltdown’s aside).

I think attitude and hard work are vital. How much do players and a county want to really go out and win? Kilkenny only have 99,118 in the county.

No. Don’t see how it’s supposed to be?
Are the Champions League quarter finals supposed to do anything for lower league soccer in Europe?
Super 8 are a couple of extra games for the top counties and therefore more money for the central council, nothing more than that.

I’m concerned that you’re drawing an analogy between the GAA and UEFA in attempting to defend the Super 8s.

Can I ask, do you see ‘Central Council’ as having any responsibility to our games?

I’ve no immediate issue with the super 8’s both in terms of augmenting the championship and competitiveness because I don’t think the desire to better a stale product while helping weaker counties should be mutually exclusive of each other. The championship is stale imo, it needs more meaningful games and the super 8 may help with that. But then again it may not.
What I don’t agree with it that two extra games will increase the gulf wider than it currently is. Most years the top sides will still reach the semi finals which isn’t exactly a bad thing. If it works we may get a better product and ultimately more money for the GAA.

I think there are huge issues facing the game and saying these hammerings happened years ago is correct, as is the fact that smaller counties have been able to compete.

But the main problem as I see it is that with the commitment and sacrifice required, young players in a lot of counties are not putting themselves forward to play county football just to get hammered, with no chance of winning anything. So the problem will just get worse and this is certainly happening now.

I cannot for the life of me understand the thinking behind the Super 8s and feel that like the backdoor, it will only help the bigger guns.

A Super 8 is twice as many teams as could currently be hoped to compete.

We had all four quarter finals this year end up as Double Digit Trimmings. When run, it will end up as two teams with 2 wins at least, and two teams with 1 win at most.

The only way for the super 8 to work, is to have the 4 best teams (which happens to be one from each province currently), combined with 4 teams that make up the rest of each province - totally unworkable.

I’m concerned that you’re drawing an analogy between the GAA and UEFA in attempting to defend the Super 8s

I’m not defending the Super 8s. I just don’t understand people who seem to think or want it to help the other 24 “not super” counties. How could it?

There must have been a big push behind the scenes to get this through. I wonder why the same effort can’t be made for a tiered championship where counties play in competitive games with a chance to move up the ladder. Like almost every other competition in the GAA.